Lesbians Attacked in Possible Hate Crime in Atlanta

Atlanta's Pride weekend was marred for two lesbians.

Diane Anderson-Minshall

Diane Anderson-Minshall is the CEO of Pride Media, and editorial director of The Advocate, Out, and Plus magazine. She's the winner of numerous awards from GLAAD, the NLGJA, WPA, and was named to Folio's Top Women in Media list. She and her co-pilot of 30 years, transgender journalist Jacob Anderson-Minshall penned several books including Queerly Beloved: A Love Across Genders.

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Diane Anderson-Minshall

Updated

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Atlanta Pride, held last weekend in the city's Piedmonth Park, turned out to be less blissful than expected for attendees Kathryn Katalinich and Brooke Creef. The women allege that two men attacked them in Midtown Atlanta during Pride, according to Fox 5 News. The couple told reporters that two men "grabbed and pushed them to the ground" Saturday outside a hotel.

Katalinich said that the men called them "derogatory terms" and then attacked them because they are a lesbian couple, and though they retreated after the women began screaming, they were stunned that nobody came to their aid, especially since it was Pride weekend. The women argue that the attack was indeed a hate crime.

Project Q Atlanta, however, reported that the women were inebriated "and instigated the incident and escalated it into a physical confrontation." According to Project Q, "Creef told an off-duty sheriff's deputy [Deputy B. Pride] working security at the hotel that she actually started the incident about 3 a.m. when she told a woman on the patio that she looked like a stripper."

The Fulton County Sheriff's Department released Deputy B. Pride's incident report on Tuesday, which Project Q has quoted. It read:

"She (Creef) stated to me that the incident started as a result of her directing several comments towards the Asian female, during which she referred to her as a 'stripper' and made negative comments about the way she was dressed." After one of the men called Creef a dyke, "Ms. Creef alleged that Ms. Katalinich approached the opposing party, at which point one of the males pushed her down to the ground. Ms. Creef indicated that she attempted to intervene on behalf of Ms. Katalinich, however she was also pushed to the ground. Creef and Katalinich appeared to be moderately intoxicated."